Forgotten
by ckorkows
Summary: Sydney is thinking about leaving, and Gage doesn't much like that idea. Fate steps in and a terrible accident changes everything.


_**Blah, Blah, Blah…disclaimers - don't own the characters, ain't sellin' it, don't sue me, blah, blah, blah… I think we all know the drill.**_

_**Okay S/G lovers, this is another little one-shot featuring our favorite Junior Rangers. As always, let me know what you think and please…**_

_**Enjoy the Ride!**_

_**Ckorkows**_

**Forgotten**

Gage burst into the women's locker room with murder in his eyes. Sydney stood her ground, her shirt hanging pointlessly on her forearms as she faced off with her belligerent partner.

She waited for him to start and wasn't disappointed, "What do you mean you're considering leaving?"

Sydney shrugged into her shirt and reached down to pull her jeans on, seemingly indifferent to Gage's attitude, "Just that. I'm considering it. It's not like I've filed my paperwork yet." She blushed a little at that last statement…_well, I haven't yet. It's still in my locker._

Gage stalked forward, his hands buried deep into pockets so he wouldn't do something he'd really regret later on. Stopping inches away from his petite partner, the blonde man spat his angry words into her face, "But you're going to. And this is how you tell me - nonchalantly slipping it into the conversation like a dinner invitation! This is ridiculous Syd!"

Sydney bit her tongue, taking a shaky breath to calm herself before speaking, he couldn't know the truth. "I just think it's time that I moved on with my life. I'm thinking of transferring to Austin."

Gage growled, he knew the men at Austin and he didn't want his partner hanging out with them. Ever. "Yeah? And what's Austin got that Dallas doesn't? You can't seriously be considering this! I won't let you."

Sydney scowled, _he wouldn't let her?_, well, she had something to say about that. "I've had it up to here," Sydney shoved her hand against her partner's forehead to make her point, "with your macho bullshit Gage! Now I'm sorry I didn't take the time to discuss my decision with you, and I'm sorry you're going to have to break in a rookie partner. But I was unaware that I needed to include you in my personal decisions. You have no claim on me Francis Gage. No stake in what I do or don't do!"

With that the brunette Ranger pushed past her stocky partner and raced out of the building. She'd turn in her transfer notice tomorrow and say goodbye to everyone by the week's end. How dare he treat her like a child…or worse, a girlfriend – someone who needed to check in with him in order to make any decisions. She wasn't his, never would be!

_But I want to be…_

Sydney bit back a sob as her real reasons for leaving surfaced inside her own mind. She reached the parking garage and frantically glanced around for her car, needing the security and privacy of the beat up Chevrolet. _Shit!_ She'd ridden with Gage that morning and was effectively carless.

Instead of going back inside and asking for a ride from one of her colleagues, Sydney raced into the street and hailed a cab, tears streaming down her face as she hurriedly gave the driver directions to her apartment before breaking down completely.

It was all Gage's fault! Sydney bit back her sobs as much as she could. If Gage hadn't been treating her like a girlfriend – escorting her to parties, getting jealous when other guys asked her out, looking at her like… - Sydney sighed. She'd set herself up, fallen for those blue eyes and bulging muscles, and had gingerly nursed the daydreams of her partner and herself actually being a couple until she couldn't take it anymore. It wasn't Gage's fault, not really. It was hers. For setting up expectations that couldn't possibly be met, expectations of a relationship that existed only in her head.

He'd made that perfectly clear last week.

Sydney sniffled and shook her head, trying to clear the disturbing thoughts from her mind. She looked around the streets and saw unfamiliar buildings passing by, this wasn't the way to her house.

"Excuse me…I think you took a wrong turn."

The woman driving tipped her cowboy hat up and looked back at Sydney through the rear-view mirror, her cool green eyes sparkling maliciously as she reached across the seat for the gun that Sydney hadn't seen when she'd gotten into the cab.

Sydney's heart clenched at the cracking, smoke-worn voice that came from the cab driver, "No Ranger Cooke. I think you picked the wrong cab today."

Sydney inhaled deeply, her nostrils narrowing as she assessed her situation, "Lady O'Malley."

Lady O'Malley was a serial killer who took pleasure in removing her victims…private parts while they were still alive. The Rangers had been on the case for over a month when she'd fallen for Ranger Gage. Unfortunately for the dragon-eyed seductress, Sydney had been suspicious of her from the start. In the end, Lady O'Malley had been robbed of her victim because of Sydney's intuition and the Rangers had failed to capture her when they went to rescue Gage. Of course, they'd been searching for the crazed woman ever since.

The green-eyed woman leveled her gun on Sydney, turning around in her seat so that she could see the fear of the first woman she'd ever killed. "You do know you'll never see your precious boyfriend again. I'm going to kill you and toss you out on the highway like the road kill you are."

Sydney shrugged; outwardly cool as she tried to formulate a plan to get out of this, "Words are cheap O'Malley. Use the gun or take me home, I've got things to do."

O'Malley inhaled sharply, her green eyes flashing as she let go of the wheel and grabbed the revolver with both hands, "He was going to be my out! You don't understand he was perfect. Francis was everything I ever wanted in a man and I was so close to having him! Then you came along!" She hissed, hatred and craziness a whirling storm in her eyes, "You stopped me from having the perfect finale! You stopped me from having the perfect man! And if I can't have him…"

Lady O'Malley never got to finish her sentence. Sydney watched in horror as the cab lurched straight through a busy intersection and a semi came plowing toward them. The impact jolted both women, Lady O'Malley slammed into the driver's side window, the impact causing her trigger finger to jerk, sending a round plowing into the backseat where Sydney's head had been moments before.

Sydney herself, having been unbuckled, was tossed across the cab like a rag doll. Her entire body slammed against the opposite door a moment before the Semi's impact sent the whole car rolling. Darkness slowly descended over the female Ranger as she fought for consciousness. Blood, sirens, screaming, and the squeal of breaks were individual memories that flashed before her eyes as she lost the battle and her mind gave in to oblivion.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Walker and Trivette were watching the fire department maneuver the jaws of life when Gage showed up. Trivette glanced at his partner, silently questioning about the other Junior Ranger's whereabouts. Walker shrugged and jerked his head in the direction of the wreck, "Witnesses say the cab didn't even slow down for the red light. The Semi driver didn't even have a chance to swerve out of the way."

Gage looked at the wreckage, taking in the multiple ambulances, the jack-knifed semi, and the police tape. _Great…as if my day could get any worse…_ "Why are we here? Isn't this something the locals could take care of?"

Walker nodded but it was Trivette who answered, gesturing to a man who was talking with the other police officers, "Witnesses say they heard a gunshot during the collision. We tried to tell them that the sound was probably something in the car breaking but that fella there…he owns one of the indoor gun ranges and swears that a gun was fired. Local PD called us in just to get the guy to calm down."

Gage frowned, "So we're just for show then?"

Walker shook his head, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his gut as the screech of metal on metal behind him signified the success of the jaws of life, "I don't think so. Come on."

Gage trudged behind his superiors, scowling and kicking at the ground. He didn't want to be here, babysitting a car crash to make people feel secure, he wanted to be at Sydney's, pounding on her door until she let him in. Yelling at her for not regarding his feelings in her decision to transfer, convincing her to stay, demanding that she stay…

Walker and Trivette stopped dead, causing the unfocused Junior Ranger to run into them. Gage bounced off of Walker's back and cursed, "Hey! What gives?"

Trivette turned slowly, his face a pale sheet as he gently took Gage's arm, "Gage, I think you need to go over there…"

Gage scowled, he'd seen car accidents before. What was Trivette playing at? It couldn't possibly be that bad, "Shove off Trivette. I can handle blood."

Walker turned then, less pale than his partner but still looking shocked as he too grabbed a hold of Gage, "Move now."

Gage frowned, his stomach clenching slightly as the stench of blood and motor oil mixed in his nostrils. He glared at both of his superiors, jerking out of Trivette's grasp and taking a step forward. "Seriously guys, not funny. Let's just do our job and get it over with."

Walker tried to stop Gage, using his body to block the younger man from approaching the wreckage, but Gage had had enough. He shouldered his boss out of the way and stepped forward, his eyes sweeping across the scene in front of him.

The yellow cab was no more than a crushed can. The whole front of the vehicle was smashed in to the point where Gage knew no one sitting in front would have survived. The Jaws of Life had carefully torqued the twisted doors off of the cab and several paramedics were dashing around wildly, calling for IVs and bandages as their colleagues gently pulled a smashed little body out of the wreckage.

Gage's heart constricted and his stomach shriveled up inside of him as he stared at the familiar woman. He flashed back to barely an hour before when he'd burst in on Sydney changing.

Surely that wasn't the same green shirt she'd pulled over her head. Those blue jeans, the ones that he'd helped her purchase last Christmas, lots of women had those…right?

Yeah, lots of women had those. But, as Gage took several steps closer, his colleagues no longer attempting to hold him back, he recognized the long chestnut hair, the smashed blue wristband that was once his partner's favorite watch.

A wretched sound tore itself from his lungs, halfway between a moan and a cry, and Gage fell to his knees, his blue eyes glued to the unmoving form of the woman he'd come to rely on. The paramedics spared the Rangers nothing as they carted their colleague over to the ambulance, where another body was being sheeted. An EMT ran past the Rangers, his mouth to his radio as he called out a familiar code.

"Yes Dallas. It's a 419, I repeat, we've got a 419."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

_**AN – If you don't know what Code 419 is, let me know in a review and I'll let you in on it. I have decided that this story needs to end here, I am sorry to those of you who were anxious for another chapter but I feel like it needs to be left open-ended.**_

_**Enjoy the Ride,**_

_**Ckorkows**_


End file.
